the view was all in lines

Transkript

1 PIANO Pianist Kenneth Karlsson invites Rolf Wallin and Asbjørn Schaatun, two Norwegian composers of truly European format, to join in close combat with one the major works of expressionism, the revolutionary Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke op. 19 by Arnold Schönberg. the view was all in lines also features Karlsson thoroughly conceived interpretations of Wallin s precise and poetic Seven Imperatives and Schaatun s extended and retrospective lines in Transcription of an Unknown Symphony, two new major works of the Norwegian piano repertoire. 1 7 Wallin: Seven Imperatives 8 19 Schönberg/Schaathun/Wallin: Zwölf kleine Klavierstücke 20 Schaathun: Transcriptions of an Unknown Symphony 21 Schaathun: Stravinsky goes Bach and Schaathun goes Frescobaldi 22 Wallin: Etude 3 23 Schönberg: Sechs kleine Klavierstücke Hybrid e+q 5.1 surround + STEREO EAN13: L-085-SACD made in Norway Lindberg Lyd AS 85 the view was all in lines

2 Rolf Wallin Seven Imperatives 21:04 1. Seek 2. Push 3. Sink 4. Spin 5. Stab 6. Lean 7. Quit Asbjørn Schaathun 20. Transcriptions of an Unknown Symphony 16:54 Asbjørn Schaathun 21. Stravinsky goes Bach and Schaathun goes Frescobaldi 2:57 the view was all in lines Arnold Schönberg Asbjørn Schaathun Rolf Wallin Zwölf kleine Klavierstücke 13:47 Schönberg s 6 kleine Klavierstucke, op.19 + Wallin and Schaathun s 6 commentaries on Schönberg s op Wallin 9. Schaathun 10. Schönberg 11. Schaathun 12. Schönberg 13. Wallin 14. Schönberg 15. Schönberg 16. Wallin 17. Schönberg 18. Schaathun 19. Schönberg Rolf Wallin 22. Etude 3 4:53 Arnold Schönberg 23. Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, op. 19 6:08

3 The Music and I It was 11am on 29th January I was standing outside Asker s municipal School of Music and Performing Arts and watched Wallin and Schaathun drive into the yard. I had invited them to meet me at short notice. In 2008 I had recorded half the CD, but for various reasons the rest had been postponed. Starting up again, I felt there was something missing. As well as the original plan of having Wallin s and Schaathun s music, I wanted something more spontaneous and less premeditated than the rest of the music. I also thought it might be an idea to add a different colour to the CD to put the Norwegian music in perspective. It occurred to me that Arnold Schönberg s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke op. 19 were composed in 1911 and that now it was Maybe I could get them to write some extra Klavierstücke. If so, it would have to be done in one day, as Schönberg had done. He seems to have been enormously prolific when he composed. He worked with great speed and inspiration and completed the first five pieces of opus 19 in one day. The sixth piece was added a couple of months later in connection with the death of his friend and mentor Gustav Mahler. These small, concentrated pieces have become one of the most popular works of the piano repertoire, composed at a time when a larger format was the norm. Schönberg himself wrote his monumental work Gurrelieder around the same time as opus 19. The idea was that Wallin and Schaathun would now compose three Klavierstücke each, making 12 altogether. This was why I had lured them out to Asker. At 11am we installed ourselves in rooms A, B and C, with me in the middle, and practised Schönberg. Now and again I dropped in on them to see how things were going. It clearly wasn t easy, and I was met by expressions of both frustration and inspiration. After a short lunch in Asker we continued until 6pm, and six new Klavierstücke were actually completed. We celebrated with dinner. This is the CD I felt I had to make. I ve known both composers since the end of the 70s. I first met Wallin at the Oslo Academy of Music. We both started there in I remember we played in the school s jazz ensemble, Wallin on trumpet and me on Fender Rhodes. We didn t become close friends until after we d finished at the school. Schaathun applied to study piano at the Academy and I was student representative on the jury. He made it, but it was generally understood that he was going to be a composer rather than a pianist. After a year he switched to composition. We became friends almost immediately. Since then we three have followed each other closely over the years and I have played most of what they have written for the piano. For me they have often seemed to complement each other when I tired of one I could go to the other. For me they belong on the same CD. I commissioned Transcriptions of an Unknown Symphony in At the time both Schaathun and I were a little weary of modernist serialism and our thoughts were tending towards Schumann, Skryabin and that form of expression, although in a more modern version. Composition progressed rather slowly for Schaathun a page a month was solemnly delivered over a good lunch in Oslo. I premiered the piece at the Ultima Festival in 2006, but certain passages didn t work well. Early in the process I had played a longer piece by James Dillon for Schaathun. Maybe this got him thinking in terms of writing more complexly and densely than he had first thought. The result was a piece that in several passages looked as if it was written for four hands. As we know, many colours together make grey, and Schaathun decided to rewrite parts of the piece. The final result had its premiere in Bergen in March One of Schaathun s great sources of inspiration in recent years has been the music of Igor Stravinsky. In several of his pieces Stravinsky included musical references to J. S. Bach. Schaathun took some of these references and developed them further in Frescobaldi style. The resulting piece was called Stravinsky goes Bach and Schaathun goes Frescobaldi. It s a beautiful little piece that I first played in Berlin in 2002 for a hall full of hardcore modernists, who were surprisingly appreciative. Rolf Wallin s Seven Imperatives were composed for Carte Blanche (the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance) and pianist Håkon Austbø. A few months after the first performance in 2001, the Hudderfield Comtemporary Music Festival contacted me to ask if I could play the piece, as I was going there anyway to do a couple of concerts with Cikada. It wasn t long until the festival, but I was in the middle of a huge project involving Richard Barret s music and the Cikada ensemble, which was performing in Australia just before Huddersfield. I didn t want to turn Huddersfield down and

4 actually managed to learn it all except the second movement before getting on the plane to Australia. At the airport I panicked a little and managed to buy a little Casio keyboard. I practised on this on the plane journey there and back and managed to learn the remainder. Then we went to Huddersfield and had a wonderful concert. Seven Imperatives you would be hard put to find a less colourful title But it s precisely the limitation that the various imperatives impose that seems to give Wallin an inspiring freedom. It also provides him with the mood and even the playing style of the different movements. Wallin s Etude 3 was actually one of four etudes. These were more compositional etudes than concert music and Wallin was not entirely happy with them. When I was about to start on the CD, Wallin said that one of them might be good if he rewrote it. As a composer it s sometimes difficult to return to an old piece; you lose touch with the material. To assist him I rehearsed the old version, and one evening Wallin sat at home and rewrote the piece, sending me s with a series of notes at a time which I played through and commented on. In the course of the evening we got through it and the piece was completed. Kenneth Karlsson Microscosmic activity When Kenneth invited Asbjørn and myself to write three musical comments each to Arnold Schönberg s Six Little Piano Pieces in the space of one day, I thought it would be a simple matter. After all, the themes are there and they are meant to be extremely short, no more than half a minute each. But it turned out to be harder than I thought. Blessed Arnold wrote five of his pieces in an ecstasy of creativity in the space of one day in February more than a hundred years ago in 1911, at a time when the world of music was in an ecstasy of total transformation. The pieces fall into a tradition of short, characteristic piano pieces from Couperin through Schumann and Debussy. But they point in the direction of a new era of weightlessness and transparency, perhaps more so than anything else he wrote in the rest of his life. This is, of course, partly because of the lack of tonal gravitation, but even more because of the lack of any stifling, romantic yearning. The themes soar past each other in a way that is reminiscent of John Cage. So finding halfway position between Schönberg and Wallin, and at the same time establishing a musical space in the course of a few seconds was a challenge especially with the clock inexorably ticking away. However, reaching out towards a distant point is always instructive, whether that point is to be found in another art form or in another era. So here are my connections to this great music in a microscopic format. And, on the same CD, my own small contributions to the tradition of piano miniatures on this occasion in the area between music and physical movement, written for a dance performance by Ingun Bjørnsgaard. Seven invitations to action. Four letters in each. Rolf Wallin The Piano and I Stravinsky claimed that for him a new piece always started with a feeling of a particular interval in his hands referring to the piano that he always worked at when composing, in sharp contrast to Schönberg, incidentally, who never worked at the piano. If you will pardon the daring comparison, it s more or less the same for me as for Stravinsky, but with the addition that a new piece doesn t just start with a feeling of an interval in my hands, but also with the idea of some form of characteristic movement as a motor. However, the piano is not just an excellent arena for gestural ideas; what makes the piano different from all other instruments is that you can actually see the music, allowing you to use topographical ideas like symmetry, parallel shifts, fixedness and movement at the same time etc. Speaking of feelings in your hands, every time we play the piano music of the great masters we must bear in mind that we are miming their playing and that by physically grasping the same intervals and chords that they did, we can perhaps get closer to their mindset and the mindset of their age. Perhaps even to their emotional life? The times I experience my pieces whether it s piano music or not as more successful than others are when a new work has its origins in a very short, improvised idea conceived on the piano. But then

5 it s important to stop at that point otherwise I quickly get caught up in my own repertoire of clichés, mimicry and wet dreams of virtuosity. The piano is perfect for just that. For many people the piano represents composition in black and white, which is, of course, to ignore the different nuances of the keys. Beethoven s sonatas are often called his sketchpad. Does that mean works in black and white? Some have even dared to regard the piano as a large percussion instrument, although this was probably for ideological reasons. The strange thing is that in reality you can orchestrate on the piano too; in fact, isn t it an orchestra of its own? This is not just because you can achieve large masses of sound; it s also quite possible to give a melody the sound of a cello, if it s in the right register. Odd that this practice hasn t found its way into piano music scores. Asbjørn Schaathun ARNOLD (FRANTZ WALTHER) SCHÖNBERG ( ) came from a poor background in Vienna and received no systematic tuition in music. His contact with Alexander von Zemlinsky constituted in practice his only musical tuition, and it was this that enabled him to have his string quartet in D performed in Schönberg worked extensively giving private lessons, but it made little impact on his finances. In 1910 he gained a post at Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, but was subjected to virulent racist attacks. He decided to settle in Berlin and experienced in this period his first international recognition. In 1925 he was invited to succeed Busoni as leader of the composition master class at Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Growing anti-semitism led to the government declaring that Jewish elements were to be removed from the Academy. Schönberg saw this as a dismissal and accepted therefore a teaching post at The Boston Conservatory, emigrating to the US in In 1936 he moved to Los Angeles after accepting a professorship at the University of California (UCLA), where he was to remain for the rest of his life. Schönberg formulated his twelve-tone theory around His first three series of works, Five Piano Pieces op. 23, Serenade op. 24 and Suite for Piano op. 25, were all written in the period Although in principle self-taught, Schönberg is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century in several fields: as the originator of the twelve-tone technique, as one of the century s most influential teachers and theorists, and, not least, as one of the major composers in the German- Austrian tradition descended from Bach and Beethoven. The issue of the artist as prophet was central to his work, his unfinished opera Moses and Aron constituting an apotheosis in this respect. Schönberg is often wrongly portrayed an atonal composer. In fact his work is rather sustained by a difficult and ambivalent relationship to tonality.

6 Asbjørn Schaathun (1961) was educated at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. Further studies led him to IRCAM, the Institute for musical/acoustical research and coordination in Paris. His stay at IRCAM culminated, in 1992, in the commission Double Portrait for violin, ensemble and electronics. Schaathun has been a pioneer in computer-aided composition in his native country of Norway. Besides his work as a composer, he has also written several articles on other composers and their music. Furthermore, he is the founder of the Norwegian Academy of Music s Contemporary Ensemble and its professional successor the Oslo Sinfonietta. Asbjørn Schaathun has received several prizes for his work. Among others, he received the The Gaudeamus Foundation s Louis Vuitton Prize for the bass-clarinet concerto, Actions, Interpolations and Analyses in In 1992 he was awarded the Norwegian assosiation of Critic s Prize and the same year he also received Bang & Olufsen s Music Prize. In 2008 he was awarded the Lindeman Prize, Norway s largest music prize, for his tremendous work within Norwegian music. Since 2006 Asbjørn Schaathun has been the head of the Norwegian Society of Composers. Schaathun s works are published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen. Asbjørn Schaathun (1961) er utdannet ved Norges musikkhøgskole og Royal College of Music i London. Videre studier førte ham til det franske elektro-akustiske institutt, IRCAM, i Paris. Et opphold der kulminerte i 1992 med bestillingsverket «Double Portrait», for fiolin, ensemble og elektronikk. Schaathun har i sitt arbeide med computerstøttet komponering vært en pioner i sitt hjemland Norge. Ved siden av sitt virke som komponist har han dessuten skrevet en rekke artikler om andre komponisters musikk. Han er også grunnlegger av Musikkhøgskolens Samtidsensemble og dets profesjonelle etterfølger Oslo Sinfonietta. Som komponist har Asbjørn Schaathun mottatt en rekke priser. Blandt annet i 1991, hvor han motttok Gaudeamus-stiftelsens Louis Vuittonpris for bassklarinett-konserten «Actions, Interpolations and Analyses». I 1992 fikk han Kritikerprisen og mottok samme år Bang & Olufsens Musikkpris. Og i 2008 ble han tildelt Lindemanprisen for sitt store arbeide i norsk musikkliv.siden 2006 har Asbjørn Schaathun vært leder av Norsk Komponistforening. Schaathuns verker er publisert på Edition Wilhelm Hansen, København. Kenneth Karlsson was born in 1952 in Åmål, Sweden. He is an active and highly sought after chamber musician and soloist. He is the pianist and artistic leader of Cikada and a member of improvisation group Point 4, together with Jon Balke, Ingar Zach and Bjørn Rabben. During the 1980s he was a member of the Swedish group Aquarius, the Oslo Sinfonietta and Ensemble K4. Together with singer Elisabeth Holmertz, Karlsson has recently formed a duo, performing music from today s avant-garde, to the Baroque period. He also plays Indian Harmonium in this duo. Karlsson has toured in Europe, Asia and America. He has commissioned and premiered numerous works, by significant international composers and has recorded a large number of CDs. In 2001 Karlsson was awarded the Spellemannspris, Norway s equivalent of Grammy for his solo-cd sofferte onde serene with music by Nono, Berio and Scelsi. He has worked with video, dance and multimedia projects and collaborated with internationally recognised composers and musicians including James Dillon, Bent Sørensen, Richard Barrett, Tan Dun, Jon Balke, Conny Bauer, Rolf Wallin, Hilde Torgersen, Sidsel Endresen and Laurence Crane. Kenneth Karlssons ensemble Cikada was awarded The Nordic Council Music Prize in Kenneth Karlsson ble født i Åmål, Sverige. Han er en meget ettertraktet kammermusiker og solist. Karlsson er kunstnerisk leder og pianist i CIKADA og medlem i improvisasjonsgruppa POINT 4, sammen med Jon Balke, Ingar Zach og Bjørn Rabben. I 1980-årene var han medlem av den svenske gruppa Aquarius, Oslo Sinfonietta og Ensemble K4. Sammen med sangeren Elisabeth Holmertz utgjør han en duo med repertoar som strekker seg fra barokk- til samtidsmusikk. Her spiller han også indisk harmonium. Karlsson har turnert i Europa, Asia og Amerika. Han har bestilt og urfremført flere verker av sentrale komponister og har spilt inn flere CD-er. I 2001 fikk han Spellemannprisen for sin CD sofferte onde serene med musikk av Nono, Berio og Scelsi. Han har arbeidet med video, dans og multimediaprosjekter og har samarbeidet med anerkjente komponister og musikere som James Dillon, Bent Sørensen, Richard Barrett, Tan Dun, Jon Balke, Conny Bauer, Rolf Wallin, Hilde Torgersen, Sidsel Endresen og Laurence Crane. Kenneth Karlssons ensemble Cikada ble tildelt Nordisk Råds musikkpris i 2005.

7 Rolf Wallin (1957) is one of the foremost contemporary Nordic composers, widely performed and commissioned internationally. His musical background spans from jazz, avantgarde rock and early music to traditional classical training, and this versatility is reflected in an exceptionally many-faceted list of compositions, all published by Chester Music, London. Wallin s compositional output covers a wide range of techniques and expressions: from strictly absolute music to music theatre and installations, from elaborate computer-aided composition in his instrumental music to strongly intuitive music for the stage. Rolf Wallin (1957) er en av Nordens fremste nålevende komponister, og blir regelmessig framført over hele verden. Ved siden av en tradisjonell komposisjonsutdannelse spenner hans musikalske bakgrunn fra jazz, avantgarde-rock og tidlig musikk. Denne mangfoldigheten gjenspeiles i en usedvanlig mangefasettert verkliste, utgitt på Chester Music, London. Hans produksjon dekker et vidt spekter av uttrykk og teknikker: fra musikk for konsertsalen til musikkteater og installasjoner, fra sinnrikt utarbeidet computerstøttet komposisjon i instrumentalmusikken til mer intuitiv musikk for scenen. Musiken och jag Det var kl den 29. januari Jag stod utanför Asker Kulturskole och såg Wallin och Schaathun köra in på gårdsplatsen. Jag hade bjudit ut dom till mig på kort varsel hade jag spelat in halva CD n men av olika orsaker blev resten uppskjutet. När jag nu var igång igen tyckte jag att det fattades något. I tillägg till Wallin och Schaathuns musik som var den ursprungliga planen, önskade jag något som var mer spontant och inte så förberett och under kontroll som resten av musiken. Jag tyckte också att det kunde vara fint med lite annorlunda färg på CD n för att ge den norska musiken ett perspektiv. Jag kom att tänka på att Arnold Schönbergs Sechs kleine Klavierstücke op. 19 komponerades 1911 och nu var det Kanske jag kunde få dom att skriva några extra «Klavierstücke». Detta måste i så fall göras på en dag, som Schönberg. Han verkade ju ha en väldig skrivglädje när han komponerade. Det gick ofta fort och inspirerat, opus 19 (de 5 första) skrevs på 1 dag. Stycke nr. 6 lades till ett par månader senare i samband med hans vän och mentor Gustav Mahlers död. Dessa små koncentrerade stycken har blivit ett av pianolitteraturens mest populära verk, komponerade i en tid när stora format var vanliga. Schönberg själv skrev sitt monumentala verk Gurrelieder samtidigt med opus 19. Wallin och Schaathun skulle nu komponera tre «Klavierstücke» var, så det tillsammans blev 12. Det var detta jag hade lurat ut dom till Asker för att göra. Kl satte vi oss i rum A, B, C med mig i mitten som övade Schönberg. Ibland gick jag in till dom för att se hur det gick. Detta var tydligen inte bara lätt utan både frustrerade och inspirerade miner mötte mig. Efter en kort lunch i Asker fortsatte vi till kl och 6 nya «Klavierstücke» blev faktiskt färdiga. Vi firade med middag. Detta är en CD som det kändes att jag måste göra. Jag har känt båda komponisterna sen slutet av 70-talet. Wallin träffade jag första gången på musikhögskolan i Oslo. Vi började samtidigt Jag kommer ihåg att vi spelade i skolans jazzensemble, Wallin trumpet och jag Fender Rhodes. Nära vänner blev vi först efter skolan.

8 Schaathun sökte till musikhögskolan på piano och jag satt som elevrepresentant i juryn. Han kom in, men det var väl underförstått att alla trodde han skulle bli komponist inte pianist. Efter ett år hoppade han över till komposition. Vi blev vänner nästan direkt. Sen dess har vi alla tre följt varann nära upp genom åren och jag har spelat det mesta de har skrivit för piano. De har ofta upplevts som komplement för mig. När jag blivit trött på den ena så kunde jag gå till den andra. För mig hör dom hemma på samma CD. Transcriptions of an Unknown Symphony beställde jag Både Schaathun och jag var då för tillfället lite trötta på modernistisk punktmusik och våra tankar gick till Schumann, Skryabin och det uttryckssättet, men att göra det på ett modernt sätt. Komponerandet gick inte så fort för Schaathun, en sida i månaden som högtidligt överräcktes under en god lunch i Oslo. Jag uruppförde stycket under Ultimafestivalen 2006 men vissa partier fungerade inte. Jag hade tidigt i processen spelat ett längre stycke av James Dillon för Schaathun. Detta satte han nog på tanken att skriva komplexare och tätare än han först tänkt. Resultatet blev ett stycke som på flera partier såg ut som det var skrivet för 4 händer. Många färger blir som känt till grått och Schaathun beslöt att skriva om delar av stycket. Det slutgiltiga uruppförandet var i Bergen mars En av Schaathuns stora inspirationskällor de senaste åren har varit musiken till Igor Stravinskij. I flera stycken har Stravinskij inlemmat citat av J. S. Bach. Schaathun tog ett par av dessa citat och lekte sig vidare i Frescobaldi-stil. Resultatet blev stycket Stravinsky goes Bach and Schaathun goes Frescobaldi. Det är ju ett vackert litet stycke som jag spelade första gången i Berlin 2002, för en sal full av hardcoremodernister som överraskande nog tyckte om det. Rolf Wallins Sju Imperativer blev komponerat till Carte Blanche danskompani och pianisten Håkon Austbø. Några månader efter deras uruppförande 2001 ringde det från Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival som önskade att jag skulle spela stycket, jag skulle ändå dit med ett par konserter med Cikada. Det var inte så lång tid till festivalen men jag stod mitt i ett jätteprojekt med Richard Barrets musik och Cikada ensemblen som var i Australien direkt före Huddersfield. Jag ville inte säga nej till Huddersfield och klarade faktiskt att öva in allt utom sats 2 före jag satte mig på flyget till Australien. Jag fick lite panik på flygplatsen och lyckades köpa ett litet Casio-keyboard som jag övade med på flyget fram och tillbaka och lyckades lära mig det sista. Sen åkte vi till Huddersfield och det blev en härlig konsert. Sju Imperativer - man får väl leta efter en mindre färgsprakande titel... Men just denna begränsning som de olika imperativerna ger, verkar också ge Wallin en inspirerande frihet. Det ger honom också stämning och t.o.m. spelsätt i de olika satserna. Wallins Etude 3 var egentligen en av fyra etyder. Detta var mer kompositionsetyder än konsertmusik och Wallin var inte helt nöjd med dom. När jag skulle sätta igång med CD n sa Wallin att en av dom kanske kunde bli bra om han skrev om den. Som komponist så är det ibland svårt att gå tillbaka till ett gammalt stycke, komponisten förlorar kontakten med materialet. För att hjälpa till så övade jag in den gamla versionen och en kväll så satt Wallin hemma hos sig och skrev om stycket och sände e-post med en rad noter i taget till mig, som spelade igenom och sände kommentarer tillbaka. Under kvällens lopp kom vi igenom och stycket blev klart. Kenneth Karlsson Mikrokosmisk aktivitet Da Kenneth inviterte Asbjørn og meg til å skrive 3 kommentarer hver til Arnold Schönbergs Seks små stykker for klaver i løpet av én dag, tenkte jeg at det må da være en enkel sak? Motivene er der jo, og det skal være ultrakorte stykker, rundt et halvt minutt hver. Men det viste seg å være vanskeligere enn jeg trodde. Salig Arnold skrev fem av sine «i en rus av skaperkraft» i løpet av en dag i februar for hundre år siden, i 1911, i en tid da musikklivet selv sto midt i en rus av total forvandling. Stykkene går inn i tradisjonen av korte, karakteristiske klavérstykker fra Couperin gjennom Schumann og Debussy. Men de peker inn i en ny tid av vektløshet og gjennomskinnlighet, kanskje mer enn noe han skrev resten av sitt liv? Selvsagt på grunn av mangel på tonal gravitasjon, men enda mer på grunn av mangelen på lummer romantisk higen. Motivene svever forbi hverandre på en måte som vi finner igjen hos John Cage. Så å finne et sted midt mellom Schönberg og Wallin, og samtidig etablere et musikalsk rom i løpet av noen få sekunder var en utfordring, især når klokken tikket ubønnhørlig.

9 Men det å strekke seg mot et annet punkt er alltid lærerikt, enten punktet befinner seg i en annen kunstart eller i en annen tidsalder. Så her er mine forbindelseslinjer til denne store musikken i mikroskopisk format. Og på samme CD er mine egne små bidrag til klavérminiatyrtradisjonen. Denne gangen i spenningfeltet mot fysisk bevegelse, skrevet til en danseforestilling av Ingun Bjørnsgaard. Syv oppfordringer til handling. Fire bokstaver i hver. Rolf Wallin Pianoet og meg Stravinskij hevdet at et nytt stykke for ham startet med en intervallfølelse i hendene - med henvisning til pianoet som han alltid arbeidet ved da han komponerte, forøvrig i skarp kontrast til Schönberg som aldri arbeidet ved pianoet. Med all vågal sammenligning forøvrig: det er stort sett det samme for meg som for Stravinskij, men med det tillegg at et nytt stykke ikke bare starter med en intervallfølelse i hendene, men gjerne også med idéen om en eller annen type karakteristisk bevegelse som motor. Pianoet er imidlertid ikke bare en utmerket arena for gestiske idéer; noe som skiller pianoet fra alle andre instrumenter er nemlig at du kan se musikken, man kan altså også ta utgangspunkt i topografiske idéer som symmetri, parallellforskyvninger, fastholdthet og bevegelse på samme tid osv. Apropos følelser i hendene: Hver gang vi spiller de store mesternes pianomusikk må vi minne oss selv om at vi mimer deres spill og gjennom å fysisk sett gripe de samme intervaller og akkorder som de den gang gjorde, kommer vi kanskje nærmere deres og deres samtids måte å tenke på? Kanskje til og med måte å føle på? De gangene jeg opplever mine stykker klavermusikk eller ikke som mer vellykkede enn andre ganger, er når et nytt verk har sitt opphav i én meget kort improvisert idé unnfanget på pianoet. Men det gjelder for meg å stoppe med denne ellers blir jeg, hvis jeg skal utvikle denne idéen, fort fanget i mitt eget repertoar av klisjeer, etterplapringer og våte, virtuose drømmer. Pianoet er som skapt for dette. Pianoet representerer for mange komposisjon i svart-hvitt og da tenker man selvfølgelig ikke på tangentenes forskjellige valør. Beethovens sonater blir av mange kalt hans skisseblokk. Altså verker i svart-hvitt? Noen har til og med våget å betraktet pianoet som et stort slagverkinstrument, selv om dette sannsynligvis var av ideologiske grunner. Det merkelige er at man i virkeligheten nettopp kan instrumentere på pianoet også; er det ikke egentlig et helt orkester? Ikke bare fordi man kan oppnå store klangmasser. Det er faktisk fullt mulig å gi en melodi celloklang, hvis den er lagt i det rette leie. Pussig at denne praksisen ikke har nedfelt seg i pianomusikkens partiturer. Asbjørn Schaathun ARNOLD (FRANTZ WALTHER) SCHÖNBERG ( ) kom fra fattig bakgrunn i Wien. Han mottok ingen systematisk undervisning i musikk, men kom i kontakt med Alexander von Zemlinsky som gav ham, i praksis, hans eneste musikalske undervisning. Dette medvirket også til at Schönberg i 1897 fikk fremført sin strykekvartett i D. Til tross for at Schönberg gir privatundervisning i stort omfang, hjelper ikke dette på hans økonomi. I 1910 blir han ansatt ved Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst i Wien, men blir kraftig angrepet på rasistisk grunnlag. Han bestemmer seg for å etablere seg i Berlin, og opplever på denne tiden en begynnende internasjonal anerkjennelse. I 1925 inviteres han til å overta ansvaret for mesterklassen i komposisjon ved Preußische Akademie der Künste i Berlin etter Busoni. Den voksende antisemittismen førte til at regjeringen annonserte at jødiske elementer skulle fjernes fra akademiet, og Schönberg betrakter dette som sin oppsigelse. Han aksepterer derfor en undervisningspost ved The Boston Conservatory og emigrerer til USA høsten I 1936 flytter Schönberg til Los Angeles etter å ha blitt tilbudt et professorat ved University of California hvor han skulle bli værende resten av sitt liv. Schönberg formulerte rundt 1920 tolvtoneteorien; hans tre første rekkeverker, de fem pianostykkene op. 23, Serenaden op. 24 og Suite for piano op. 25, blir alle skrevet i perioden Selv om Schönberg i prinsippet var autodidakt, regnes han som en av de mest betydningsfulle i det 20. århun-

10 dre på flere områder: som far til tovtonesystemet, som en av århundrets mest innflytelsesrike pedagoger og som teoretiker, men ikke minst som en av de helt store komponistene innenfor den tysk-østerrikske musikktradisjonen i linjen etter Bach og Beethoven. En komponist som ofte sirkler rundt problemstillingen om kunstneren som profet. Den ufullførte operaen Moses og Aron er et høydepunkt i så måte. Schönberg blir ofte feilaktig tillagt rollen som atonal komponist. Hans produksjon blir snarere båret oppe av et konfliktfylt, ambivalent forhold til tonalitet. Recorded at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Norway June 2008, December 2010 and April 2011 by Lindberg Lyd AS Recording Producers Jørn Simenstad / Rolf Wallin / Asbjørn Schaathun Recording Engineers Beatrice Johannessen (tr. 8-21, 23) / Hans Peter L Orange (tr. 1-7, 22) Piano Technician Thron Irby STEINWAY & SONS Editing Jørn Simenstad Mix and Mastering Morten Lindberg / SACD Authoring Lindberg Lyd AS Photo Margareta Bergman / Portrait of Asbjørn Schaathun Tine Harden Portrait of Rolf Wallin Benjamin Ealovega / Portrait of Kenneth Karlsson Per Buhre Translation Richard Burgess / Graphic Design Morten Lindberg Financially supported by Fond For Lyd og Bilde, Norsk Komponistforening, Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere and Norsk Kulturråd Executive Producer Jørn Simenstad 2L is the exclusive and registered trade mark of Lindberg Lyd AS [NOMPP ] 2L-085-SACD This recording was made with DPA microphones, Millennia Media amplifiers and SPHYNX2 converters to a PYRAMIX workstation, all within the DXD-domain. Digital extreme Definition is a professional audio format that brings "analogue" qualities in 24 bit at khz sampling rate. With DXD we preserve Mbit/s per channel linear PCM. This leaves headroom for editing and balancing before quantizing to DSD. Super Audio CD is the carrier that brings the pure quality to the domestic audience.